Since shooting to fame in 2010, Hip Hop artist Ty Dolla $ign has built an impressive reputation. Not only is he a highly sought after songwriter and producer whose credits include co-writing Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney's 2015 hit 'FourFiveSeconds', but more notably, Dolla $ign has become the go-to collaborator in the music business.
When he isn't featuring on R&B and Hip Hop bangers with Drake, Big Sean and plenty alike, he's lending his vocals to chart-topping pop anthems like Fifth Harmony's 'Work From Home', Zara Larsson's 'So Good' and Jason Derulo's 'Swalla'.
So with the release of his much awaited sophomore studio album Beach House 3 - a follow-up to his popular 2012 mixtape and standalone 2014 EP, Beach House, we caught up with Dolla $ign (whose real name is Tyrone William Griffin Jr) to talk all things music and ask the all-important question - how exactly do you tell someone you don't like their song enough to feature on it? Here's what he had to say...
You can expect better lyrics - the pen game is definitely going all the way up. I’ve been working with my homie Poo Bear and Pharrell, and all kinds of tight ass people. I’ve been toying with different sh*t like I always do. Every song isn’t just going to be the same thing so you might hear some acoustic stuff, I got a reggae song, I got some trap, I got all types of shit.
Yeah, I did a visual called Beach House 3 the movie which allows my fans to go a bit deeper into my life. It’ll show them who Ty Dolla $ign really is and what Beach House really means to me.
When I was growing up my mum and my dad were still together and they’d take me, my brother and my sister to this beach area in California. There was this one lock where they planned on building a house and I remember my siblings and I would get out the car and jump into the dirt like ‘yo, this is where my room is going to be, here’s where the kitchen will be, this will be the bathroom.' Then they broke up and the whole shit was over. But I just kept that dream going just like I did with my music. When everyone told me to just go and get a regular job, I kept my dream going and now the music is popping and the beach house is popping.
I collaborated with Pharrell - I was super excited about that. I’ve always looked up to him even back when he had The Neptunes and even before that when I was real little and he produced for the Wreck-N-Effect. He’s f***ing amazing and now he’s on my album.
I know I’ve got a hit for real when I walk into a room, play a song without telling anyone, or inviting the ‘yes men’, and the people around me just start moving as soon as they hear it. That’s when you know you’ve got something big because they’ll be like ‘yo, this is a banger’ without you even asking them what they think of it. But then other times I'll listen back to my own song, like it and then be going super crazy to it.
Yeah, it happens all the time and it’s actually not that hard for me to say no. I’m just like 'yo, I’m sorry I’m just not f***ing feeling your song'. I'll only ever feature on something if I think it's popping.
I’m still dying to work with Jay-Z. I also really want to work with Alessia Cara - she's one of my favourite female artist at the moment. In some of my previous interviews when they'd ask this type of question I’d name so many people and I promise you, I’ve knocked out that whole list. God is great.
Grime is the sh*t. I love Skepta, my boy. I love Krept and Konan. I just met Stormzy and we’re going to work together. It’s popping out here and now, thanks to Drake, it's popping in the States too.
You mean, how hard it is to keep people from copying my sht? [laughs]. I think it’s very important for artists to just be themselves - not just artists actually, everyone in the world should just be themselves and be happy. If you’re happy with yourself then it always works, I promise you that. Stop trying to f**ing be like the next man, stop trying to make a song that sounds like the last hit.
